ONI Blackgate Facility
The Office of Naval Intelligence Blackgate Research Facility was a classified scientific research and development lab that doubled as a high security prison. At this location, Navy Special Research (NAVSPECRES) and specially classified though not necessarily military-related forms of third party experiments were carried out in a wide variety of fields. The facility frequently has the guise of a 'spooky' environment where recently developed theorems and methods of bleeding edge projects were carried our or even pioneered. In terms of their military developments, Blackgate is responsible for the creation of several innovations of technology put forward by the Emergent Research Projects Agency (ERPA). Refinements of artificial gravity, man to machine interface, artificial intelligence advances, and weapons development in the form of man-portable plasma weaponry has passed through Blackgate's halls. It is also considered one of the most heavily guarded positions in the Sol system that orbits within Jupiter's Van Allen belt between the orbit of Thebe and Io. No less than two cruisers are present around Blackgate at all times, and what is more, all ships are without hull insignia, even names, and their com frequencies eschew any mention of identification. Description & History Earliest records indicate that the Blackgate facility was founded in late 2356, making it a space station that has seen service through the Covenant War of the 26th Century. In its earlier days, Blackgate served as a location of highly classified research related to Human survival in extrasolar colonial locations. Sixty years following Matthew Mobius' apparently failed expedition to Tau Ceti, the advent of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine allowed for Humanity to spread through alternate means of travel. Blackgate was primarily focused on testing to see if reported planetary conditions would allow for Humans to survive easily or with difficulty. Research personnel simulated planetary environments with gas composition as well as gravity. Though allegedly in possession of an early form of graviton manipulation technology, much of this research was conducted in centrifugal force chambers located in three rings that were equally spaced along much of the ovoid structure of the base. Here, planetary conditions were matched with gravitational forces of up to five times Earth-standard, and atmospheric pressures up to twenty times being tested on both volunteers and condemned criminals. For four hundred years these experiments were deemed highly classified by the UEG, with the first declassified reports becoming available more than four hundred years after they were carried out. Though these declassified reports were vague and often skirted how many subjects died in the testing, the information gathered was invaluable in securing which planets were safe for Human habitation, and which would need extensive modification to make livable. In the time when Human insurrection began to become more prevalent in the Outer Colonies around the time of 2506, Blackgate became one of the first locations to house high value rebel leaders. One of the most famous was Colonel Ingrid Brynjasdottir who was arrested and interrogated extensively at this location, only to remain silent, remaining for the rest of her life in this facility Brynjasdottir was responsible for the destruction of the arcology city of Fane, when men under her command detonated a small-yield nuclear device, collapsing the arcology and killing over eight hundred thousand UEG civilians. Her infamy would only be eclipsed by Colonel Robert Watts, one of the foremost leaders of the United Rebel Front. In 2525, the former UNSC Marine would be held in Blackgate for the remainder of his life. However, the date of his death has never been made public. It is likely that Watts was killed in an interrogation session, but no proof exists. By this time, the Covenant War had begun in the same year, and Blackgate's functionality returned to that of research. Rumors of their new enemy, a sentient collection of alien races, had begun to circulate through HIGHCOM, and ONI, through the Blackgate facility was tasked to begin learning their tactics and how they operated. By 2527, the facility had made progress on how the collective was structured and was one of the first to publish the material to the UEG for study. However, for the following decades, progress would be slow, as understanding of their technology was beyond the means of the facility at the time. In 2540, great leaps in artificial gravity, advanced shielding techniques, and life support enhancements were pioneered through partnership with civilian agencies. For the remainder of the war, Blackgate's strength actually lay with the public eye, which was a very rare thing to take advantage of. However, past 2580, the facility slips into obscurity until the first declassified report detailing that in 2910, the facility had begun to experiment with a process known as Mind/Image Manifestation. Theories on what this project entailed ranges from actually forming matter from thought, to advanced subconscious mental monitoring but no additional information is available. What is known is that the facility underwent extensive modification during this period of extreme secrecy with the original structure being surrounded by backwards engineered Forerunner-style structuring. Blackgate quintupled in size as well as complexity with far larger rotating sections as well as hard-light structuring to supplement the conventionally built superstructure. The station began to resemble a small city in space that was visible from the closest point between it and Io. In 3170, the notion of Mind/Image Manifestation appeared again, this time in a leaked data stream accidentally intercepted by civilian sources. These civilians, concerned with what they found, claimed that these experiments involved actively pulling information out of an individual's mind and making it legible. There were many that took this claim seriously, including Naval Intelligence, who quieted these concerns through their own covert means. Once again, the MIM experiment faded into the background. The re-emergence of the supposedly missing [[UNSC Indomitable|UNSC Indomitable]] from a 'parallel universe' in late June of 3234 began to raise eyebrows at the Blackgate labs with technicians and ONI personnel demanding to scan the vessel or interview crew. With the knowledge of Mobians, a sentient collective of species banding together as a 'race', Blackgate immediately requested funding from the UEG to study these creatures as the first example of life from a completely alternate location of space. Blackgate was not the first to do so with an additional fifty advanced research labs jockeying for the same position. However, Blackgate won out the bid for the government funding, and by July 10th, the black ops facility was conducting interviews and voluntary studies of Mobian men, women, and children to further analyze genetic and biological makeup and how it compares to Humans, which Blackgate determined was nearly identical with obvious differences in markers and genetic instructions. Blackgate determined that Human genetic coding was slowly telling the Mobians' bodies to become more Human, though the effect was more asymptotic throughout subsequent generations. Though socially, Earth would help understand them as a people, Blackgate helped understand them as an organic being. To help with diplomatic relations, all studies regarding Mobians was declared public and the lab heads offered full transparency. The facility's research into sentient races from different EUS spaces however was off the record. In 3239, Blackgate played host to numerous Marines being held by order of then-president Troy Marshall. Marshall believed that UNSC soldiers, exposed to energy of manifestations known as Chaos Emeralds had information trapped in their neural systems in a way that the MIM could interpret and make readable. Those who possessed the knowledge did not know they had it, and had no means of actually calling this information forth. Marshall however demanded that the knowledge, supposedly placed there by the Forerunners, be handed over. Hundreds of experiments yielded the same results: extensive brain hemorrhaging followed by death. Marshall's scientists theorized that a cipher needed to be located in order to understand the Forerunner 'noise' and translate it into actual coherent messages. Blackgate would never find the results Marshall was looking for, as the man he was chasing figured it out before the President did. As of 3241, Blackgate continues to operate with latest public reports from the R&D labs suggesting that the newest research venture is experimentation into so-called 'White Hole Universes' - EUS spaces where matter is injected into space where their singularities may relate to black holes in Home Universe. List of Appearances * Deception (Mentioned Only) Category:Locations Category:Space Stations Category:Office of Naval Intelligence